Altered Chalkboard Easel

I've had this chalkboard easel from Jenni Bowlin, sitting on my shelf for awhile.  I decided to turn it into a countdown to Christmas board.  Did I just say Christmas?!  I was actually tempted to make it a countdown to Halloween board, but Christmas won out!  I couldn't bring myself to start counting down yet, so I just put a winter saying on it!

This is my altered board:

I first painted the red wood with black acrylic paint.  I then covered the front with patterned paper (Authentique's Peaceful collection). I cut out the greenery with Sizzix's Decorative Strip Die, Festive Greenery and the pine cones with my Sizzix Tattered Pinecone die.  I think this is why the Christmas theme won out, I never get tired of using this pine cone die with all my projects, but usually as a flower, so it was nice to make the pine cones.  The decorative strip die has so many great small elements, that this is a favorite of mine also.  The bird and large flower were cut out from patterned paper. After inking all the paper pieces, I added in some clear micro beads and Crackle Accents on the bird and foliage.

There's a chalk pencil that comes with this board also, so I made a small holder on the back to hold it.  I also covered the back of the board with patterned paper.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jan